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  1. mirandalola

    How to teach pullets to lay in nest boxes?

    My backyard is overrun with pullets fussing and squawking, and every day is an easter-egg hunt! We've got about 2 dozen pullets who just started laying within the last week, and 3 who started laying 3 months ago. We find one or two eggs in the nest boxes every day, but we also find at least...
  2. mirandalola

    Nip aggression in the bud? Cockerels...

    When I let the chickens out this morning, one of the cockerels danced up to me, so I chased him all the way around the coop. I would have caught him if I weren't 9 months pregnant! When I turned around to go back inside he started to follow me, so I chased him again, and this time he ran under...
  3. mirandalola

    Nip aggression in the bud? Cockerels...

    I have 2 5-month-old cockerels and 6 4-month-old pullets. Ever since the cockerels reached maturity a month ago, they've been dancing around me and my kids. I laughed because it's the same dance they do around the pullets, and I thought it was the mating dance, but this morning when I opened...
  4. mirandalola

    Chickens and goats?

    I need to build a new coop for my glut of chicks (we have 8 chickens in a 64-sq-foot coop, but we have 55 chicks that will need a bigger coop soon!). Planning for the future, I know we'll be getting Nigerian dwarf goats within a year or two, and would like to save construction time for my dear...
  5. mirandalola

    Are Speckled Sussex chicks harder to raise?

    They hatched same day and were shipped together in the same box. If cold is to blame, then Delawares are definitely more cold-hardy than SSs. I'm down to 12 SSs from 25, whereas I still have 24 Delawares!
  6. mirandalola

    Mama Heating Pad in the Brooder (Picture Heavy) - UPDATE

    Or maybe just put all three heating pads on one long tunnel (and when I say "tunnel" I do understand that it will be flattened at first, then raised as the chicks grow) and let them all crowd under there together? Hubby built me a nice big brooder on our back porch and I don't really want to...
  7. mirandalola

    Mama Heating Pad in the Brooder (Picture Heavy) - UPDATE

    How many chicks would fit under one heating pad? Assuming the size the OP uses, 12x24 inches, but on a tunnel that will make it something more like 12x18 or 12x12..... if I'm raising 60 chicks, how many heating pads will I need?
  8. mirandalola

    When to move chicks outside

    I know when to move them outside permanently, but I forgot how old they need to be before I introduce them to the outside yard.... I'm thinking something like a week old? Or is it just 3 or 4 days old? I like taking them out to a pen in the same yard that the rest of the chickens run in, and...
  9. mirandalola

    Are Speckled Sussex chicks harder to raise?

    I've got a brooder full of Speckled Sussex and Delaware chicks, 3 days old. I let them get too cold last night and lost some, but brought them inside this morning and their temperature has been in the correct range all day now. But I keep on losing Sussex chicks! Some of them are hopping...
  10. mirandalola

    Is Medicated Starter Feed Being Discontinued from Being Sold Through Feed Stores?

    I had to buy mine on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007TA5Y00/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I really have no idea how this compares to the feed stores in price....
  11. mirandalola

    Scalded too hot! Is there any way to salvage it?

    I put my freshly killed chicken in a pot of scald water that was about 190 Fahrenheit. I didn't think it would make much difference, but the bird stiffened quite a bit and the feathers never would all slide out like butter. Obviously I started cooking it.... Does anyone know if there's...
  12. mirandalola

    Breeding for Disease Resistance?

    @centrarchid Thanks! On the Livestock Conservancy website I found this: https://livestockconservancy.org/images/uploads/docs/ALBCchicken_assessment-3.pdf which is EXACTLY what I wanted to know! And is pretty much exactly what I've been doing. They say to expect a 90% loss, and sometimes...
  13. mirandalola

    Breeding for Disease Resistance?

    I found some awesome articles this morning, too. Mostly scholarly articles concerned with genomic mapping, but many with mentions of "In a backyard flock, this would be accomplished thus..." Some say to not medicate and breed from survivors of disease, but others say to breed from those that...
  14. mirandalola

    Breeding for Disease Resistance?

    Also, of course, the new rooster has lice, just like all my hens/pullets. I'm seriously considering just throwing him in the coop with the others and letting all their germs mingle until they find some kind of equilibrium... I know that they could catch a disease from him but if I'm trying to...
  15. mirandalola

    Breeding for Disease Resistance?

    I acquired a rooster today from a local person, and as I was packing the rooster into my van (in a carrier!), she mentioned that her chickens have fowl pox, but she just gives them antibiotics every now and then to keep it at bay. (Which shows that she doesn't understand what antibiotics are...
  16. mirandalola

    Breeding for Disease Resistance?

    Lots of good advice here, thanks! We live in NE Texas; daytime temps around 60 and nights around 40 lately, mostly sunny but some clouds and/or rain every day. Coop is 8x8x8, with roosts built from branches. Ventilation is two windows, 2x2, along with smaller vents all along the roof. With...
  17. mirandalola

    Breeding for Disease Resistance?

    Interestingly enough, these chickens ate fermented feed before they came here. I saw/smelled it myself...
  18. mirandalola

    Breeding for Disease Resistance?

    I don't plan on selling birds; selling eggs to eat is an option I want to keep open, but I will have to investigate the laws and regulations before I can. I see no reason why any disease that doesn't render the eggs inedible, would render them unsaleable.
  19. mirandalola

    Breeding for Disease Resistance?

    I don't necessarily want a flock that doesn't have any diseases, what I want is a flock that doesn't CATCH every disease. I'm free-ranging my chickens, they're going to come in contact with wild birds, and I can't control what diseases those have. So, I don't want my chickens to have a sterile...
  20. mirandalola

    Breeding for Disease Resistance?

    Just one. That was how I knew for sure I had MS and MG in my flock. Now that I know the symptoms better I feel confident in my diagnoses. Also, I got almost all these from one source. I have 8 chicks in a brooder that seem to be quite a bit more hardy, that I got from a different source...
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